Luke Combs: CMA Awards Nomination Validates His Hard Work

Luke Combs received his first-ever CMA Awardsnomination this year, for New Artist of the Year. The singer, who released his freshman album, This One's for You, in June, says that even simply realizing he was in contention for a nomination mattered to him.

"I could sit here and lie to you and tell you that I don’t think about that stuff, and I don’t a lot. But I do to a point," Combs tells The Boot. "Once the second ballots came in, and we saw what we were up for, it was cool to go, ‘Wow, people actually think this is cool. People inside the industry think this is a cool thing.' And that’s awesome, because being respected by your peers, I think, is something everybody strives for, especially in this business."

The humble singer is also quick to point out that he alone doesn't deserve all the praise for his successful year.

"I have a lot of pride in the album, having written every song on it, being out touring as much as we do. That’s a big point of pride for not only myself," he shares, "but everybody in the band, my management, booking agency -- we’ve all worked so hard to get to this point. It really does, I think, from the outside looking in, seem like it happened overnight. But when you think this album has been recorded for almost two years, it’s been a long time coming."